Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry welcomes Heyduck

For The Sun Today For more than 35 years, Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry has equipped thousands of Beaufort and Jasper County adults with the reading, writing, math and speaking skills they need to be successful and self-sufficient members of their family, their workplace and their community.

After three weeks, Literacy Volunteers of the Lowcountry Executive Director Jean Heyduck is adapting quickly to the nonprofit organization.

LVL’s goal is to increase adult literacy in the greater Beaufort County area. With the help of Sun City residents and other volunteers, LVL can help adult students through two programs, basic literacy and English for Speakers of Other Languages.

After Heyduck’s husband Chris Protz was hired executive director of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry, the newly married couple moved to Bluffton in March 2012. Heyduck spent 10 months searching for a job, before the doors opened at LVL.

With previous experience as executive director of the Gateway Technical College Foundation and director of communications and marketing for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Heyduck wanted to continue wotking with nonprofits.

“I’ve worked with corporations before but I really wanted to work with another nonprofit where I believed in their mission,” Heyduck said. “It’s easy to work when you’re doing something you enjoy and know that what you’re doing is benefiting others. It’s very fulfilling.”

Heyduck is a marketing and communications professional with a master’s in Speech Communication from Eastern Illinois University. She first discovered LVL through reading about the organization in a local newspaper. Since Nancy Williams was retiring in early February, the executive director position became available and Heyduck’s 10-month job search was over.

“Jean has plunged into her new position with great energy and enthusiasm,” said Dodi Eschenbach, LVL’s associate director of development. “I feel confident that Jean has the leadership qualities and expertise to help the organization meet the challenges it will face over the next few years.”

One challenge Heyduck faces right away is the lack of space to meet with the students. LVL student enrollment is up by 46 percent from 2011, and there are students on a waiting list. While Holy Family Catholic Church and St. Francis by the Sea Catholic Church in Hilton Head provide classroom space along with other locations in Bluffton, LVL has more students and needs additional staff.

“I’ll be working in the next few months to gain more donations to fund operational expenses,” Heyduck said. “We weren’t anticipating the growth so there was no money to pay for more staff… I’ll work to make sure we are prepared in the future.”

In order to fund staff, LVL relies on the few events they sponsor throughout the year. On Sunday, the seventh annual Cooks and Books event will offer the chance to sample food prepared by 18 area restaurants, mingle with 17 Lowcountry authors and buy autographed books, and watch a heated chefs’ competition.

Heyduck looks forward to participating in the event for the first time.

“I’ve had my friends say this is an event they never miss,” she said.

As she continues to adapt to the responsibilities of LVL, Heyduck is happy living in the Lowcountry, helping the organization improve adult literacy. She continues to make new friends and enjoys the warm weather instead of the snow of Wisconsin.

“Everyone is so welcoming. I think since a lot of people here are transplants, you’re only a new person for three minutes before someone else is the newbie in town,” Heyduck said. “I’ve really been accepted in the community and at LVL.”

MEET JEAN HEYDUCK

Education: Eastern Illinois University

Age: 53

Family: Husband, Chris; daughter, Amy, 23; son, Brian, 20; stepson, Matt, 35; stepdaughter, Kaitlyn, 20; and a Golden Retriever, Dixie, who is almost 12. Last book read: The Favored Daughter: One Woman’s Fight to Lead Afghanistan into the Future by Fawzia Koofi

IF YOU GO

What: Cooks and Books event

When: 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday at the Westin Hilton Head Island Resort and Spa.

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I wonder if these "students" are checked for legal status ?
LOL!!!! What was I thinking!?!?!?

It's a shame that we waste so much money, time, and resources on lawbreakers who aren't even supposed to be in this country.
For every seat a lawbreaker gets to sit in is one less seat a citizen/legal resident doesn't get to sit in.

I guess I am confused about how you know that the people they are helping are illegal.
You go on your "it's a shame..." rant, and 9mm says the woman in the story agrees with aiding and abetting illegals.
Do either of you have proof that the volunteers are teaching illegals, or are you just yapping as usual?

Do you have any proof that they AREN'T teaching any illegals MR? Are you suggesting that no volunteers have ever helped illegal aliens in this organization (or our many other volunteer programs / charity organizations)?

The way to "prove" that they, and all of our other charitable organizations, aren't aiding and abetting illegal aliens would be for them to have a policy of making people prove their legal status before providing them with assistance / clothes / money, etc.
Would you be for that?

As a rape crisis advocate, I never asked for "proof" that someone was raped. I gave them the tools and information they needed to start their recovery. No questions asked.

When you volunteer your time and energy to something you care about, you don't require the recipient to defend themselves or proove they are worthy of your time.
You do it because you want to share your knowledge and your time.
That's it! No hidden agendas. No strings attached. No recripocation.

WHAT in the WORLD are they teaching you guys in church these days CG? What ever happened to WWJD? lol!

Not exactly comparing apples to apples there MR.
I have said here in the past that if I saw an illegal alien on the side of the road injured, I would take them to a doctor.
Helping a person that has been raped or injured is a little different than teaching someone how to speak English, thus helping them blend in to our society and continue to break our laws.

And, as I've said, for every seat an illegal takes in a classroom, that's one less seat a citizen/legal resident can have. Just like, for every loaf of bread they take, every minute of a volunteers time, every shirt or pair of pants they take, every dollar they take from charity, etc.....etc.....is all taken away from a needy American citizen or legal US resident.
Illegals cost this country BILLIONS of dollars each and every year MR, all because they choose to break our law(s).
Just because YOU'RE ok with that, doesn't make it right.

If a person does not speak, read or write the english language this is a sure sign they are unlawfully in this country.

I was talking with an BICE agent on the phone and asked them, "how is it possible that B.O can executive order unlawful aliens who are U.S soil illegally out of prison onto U.S streets and how do they keep track of them?"

They replied, "He can't and its an impeachable crime by a president, When it comes to keeping track of them they are suppose to report to a parole officer once a month where they are drug tested and questioned about where they reside ect....but INS officers have already begun to track them down to have them deported but in those states they have simply dispersed."

So now MR what do you think? Most of these men are gang members and did you know that most of these are second offenders as well.

So if a nonprofit is helping a criminal (border jumper, visa overstayer and now released convict) without asking them if they are legally in the U.S or how they came here is aidng and abetting.

I had a convict come in my store yesterday with MS 13 tatoos all over him who was probably one of the released criminals.

Ask yourself MR why did B.O not have american citizens released? Do you think this "temper tantrum" by a president is impeachable?

The thousands of illegals that are being released is being blamed on the sequester. Problem is, they started releasing them before the sequester kicked in and even before they knew the sequester was even going to happen.
It's one big lie after another with this administration.

What we are going to witness now is a President putting politics / party ahead of the country. They are going to do everything they can to try and make it seem that the sequester is harmful to Americans in an effort to convince people that we need to raise taxes and not cut spending.
This is the most dishonest, far left wacko that we've ever had in the Oval office in our country's history and he will try anything to get what he wants.
Which is, wealth redistribution and cradle to grave government nanny state.

I told everyone back in 2007 who Barack Obama was but nobody wanted to believe it.
I hate to say "I told you so" but..........

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